Leonard Baskin
American sculptor and printmaker, 1922-2000
Angel of Death
1959
Woodcut on brown paper
61 1/2 x 30 1/2 inches (156.21 x 77.47 centimeters)
Gift of Professor and Mrs. Edwin H. Miller, 1977.
1977.005.001

The Angel of Death is one of a number of monumental woodcuts made by the American printmaker and sculptor Leonard Baskin between 1952 and 1963. The artist printed the five foot tall image from a single carved block made up of smaller pieces of wood. The son of a rabbi, Baskin was highly educated and often drew from ancient and modern literature for his subjects. The Angel of Death appears in Jewish, Islamic, and Christian writings as a frightening destroyer. Baskin often explored the subject of fear, death and mourning in his prints and sculptures.